


Together

by thudworm



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Getting Together, Howard Stark's Good Parenting, M/M, Timeline changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8890480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: Prompt: Howard was a good dad to Tony and is still alive when he finds Steve in the Ice only 50 years after he went down. Twenty-ish Tony and Steve fall for each other to Howard's surprise and amusement.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xennie_B](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xennie_B/gifts).



> This was the prompt that immediately grabbed my attention, and I've had a lot of fun writing it ~~even though it's twice as long as I was planning~~. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it Xennie_B!

This was really happening. They had found it. They had found _him_.

Tony had been begging Howard for the chance to come along on one of these searches for years, but the rule had remained “not until you’re 21, and not if it will impact on your schooling.” Of course, the universe had it out for him, because once he had _finally_ reached 21 everything was put on hold in the wake of that failed assassination attempt; Howard was still cagey about the details of what exactly had happened. Tony had his suspicions, though- the timing seemed to be more than a coincidence given that a few months later here was the ousting of Obadiah Stane for double-dealing and other shady shit. The fallout from that had held back the search for another year.

But none of that mattered right now, because here he was. A member of the successful expedition to recover Captain America’s body, and the plane he had crashed 49 years ago.

Tony was officially only along as an observer, with no access to sensitive information or input to the planning process. _Unofficially_ , Howard allowed Tony to participate as if he was a fully-fledged member of the team. Which was a damned good thing, Tony thought to himself, because some of these so-called experts were morons.

The lead moron had just finished giving a briefing on how he wanted to proceed with the recovery effort. It wasn't a bad plan, mostly, except for the part where it hadn't accounted for the change in weight distribution and it was as likely as not for the Valkyrie to break in two.

“That won't work,” Tony called out, earning himself a glare from almost everyone in the room.

“Young man, I don't know what you think your purpose here is, but I can tell you what it's not. You're not a member of my team, you have no experience in this area, and  I've been doing this job for longer than you've been alive. This is a SHIELD operation, so don't expect me to suddenly start doing what you say just because you're the kid of the _civilian_ funding this.”

Tony barely managed not to visibly roll his eyes at the blowhard, but before he could defend his ideas Howard stepped in on his behalf.

“Agent Chambers, I would suggest you speak to my son with more respect in the future and give him a chance to prove what he's talking about. Tony, I'm sure you can demonstrate why you think there's a problem with this plan that every person in this room has missed?”

With the eyes of everyone in the room focussed intently on him, some intrigued and some glaring daggers at him, Tony made his way up to the whiteboard without saying a word- his work would speak for itself.

Twenty minutes and a board full of equations and diagrams later, Tony was done. Not only had he proven why the original plan was so terrible, he had also given them a better alternative to work with instead. Looking around the room it was clear that he had managed to convince most of them, but he still hadn't won over Agent Chambers.

Tony was fully prepared to start a shouting match with the man if he was pushed into it; but, again, Howard spoke first. “Thank you, Tony. It’s a good strategy- I’m glad to see there’s someone here capable of using their brain. If there are no reasonable objections to carrying out this plan, then let’s get to it. Dismissed!”

As everyone shuffled out of the briefing room, Tony followed Howard to the Operations Centre to listen and watch along. He wanted to make sure no bright spark decided to go back to the original, shitty plan. Maybe if he was lucky he would have a chance to say “I told you so,” if they really pushed the issue and did it anyway.

Regardless of which plan was being followed, the first step was the same- Captain America’s body was to be retrieved separately and securely stored by the medic team. Even if there were such a thing as a perfect plan, there was no way to guarantee nothing could go wrong and no one wanted to risk adding to insult to injury, even though the man himself was beyond caring.

Of course, not everyone involved seemed to care as much as they should, and the asshole in question just felt the need to share his opinion with everyone over the comms. “Why do we have to bother with all this nonsense? I don't see why we can't just leave the body where it is and leave it for the ones back at SHIELD HQ to deal with.”

Thankfully, one of the other workers on the ground was quick to tell the asshole where he could stick his opinion. “Don’t you think the man’s been through enough already? He deserves a proper burial, not to be treated like some slab of meat we're pulling out of the freezer for dinner!”

“Unless someone can tell me a legitimate reason to deviate from the plan, I expect it to be done with a minimum of chatter. Anyone who has an issue following my orders on this can take it up with Director Fury.” Howard’s threat was enough to kill any further discussion, and the teams continued their work in silence, save for the occasional request to pass a tool or assist with lifting something out of the way.

Everything descended into pandemonium when one of the medics dropped a bombshell on them all. “Sir… I know this is going to sound impossible… but… I think he might still be alive…”

*

The first time Tony got to speak to Captain America was about a week after he had first regained consciousness. Tony had been present then, by virtue of following Howard and keeping quiet in a corner; everyone else in the med-bay had been too occupied with their duties to bother evicting him when he was staying out of the way. At least they _had_ been content to ignore him until after the Captain had awoken for long enough to gasp out a quiet but heartfelt “fuck!”

Tony had lost it at that, laughing so hard he doubled over. He was asked, in no uncertain terms, to leave and not return unless he had a medical issue of his own that required treatment. Tony knew better than to press the issue, he was sure at least one or two of the medics, being SHIELD, were capable of taking him down with nothing more than a shoelace and an old newspaper if he gave them reason to.

News of the Captain’s revival had spread through the crew at a record pace, shocking everyone. Finding his body in the first place had been totally unexpected by just about all, but this was something else. The only person who didn’t seem surprised was Howard, and Tony wondered if maybe _this_ was why he had always been so committed to the recovery of the Valkyrie.

The week following Captain America’s retrieval was an incredibly busy time for most of the crew as they worked on the extraction of the plane from the ice it was embedded in. Tony had no role to play in the removal works, and so he was left at somewhat of a loose end. With nothing else to do, he holed himself up in his bunk working on the coding for an advanced AI system, and emerging only to find food when his hunger reached an unignorable state.

It was on one of these late night/early morning raids of the mess hall that Tony met Captain America. Well, not so much _met_ as ‘was scared out of his skin’ when someone took advantage of his sleep-deprived state to sneak up behind him and tap him on the shoulder.

“You scared the crap out of me,” Tony said before turning around to see who else was up and about at 2 am. Then he did a double-take and wondered if he had reached the hallucination stage of sleep deprivation, or maybe he’s fallen asleep at the table and was now dreaming. Because there was no way it was possible for Captain America to be standing there, wearing a t-shirt that is sinfully tight, laughing at him.

“Sorry, I really didn’t mean to scare you like that. I just thought some company might be good, for both of us.”

Still not entirely convinced this was really happening, Tony gestured at the empty seats at the table, inviting the Captain to join him. “So, Captain-”

“Steve. Please, call me Steve.” Steve asks him, and who is Tony to argue against that.

“Fine, _Steve_ , I have a question for you: just how is it that someone muscle-y can be so sneaky?” Tony asks, waving his hand at Steve’s everything, where nothing is left to the imagination by that shirt. Tony needs to find out who was responsible for that so he can thank them, very profusely.

Steve just shook his head at Tony. “I wasn’t being sneaky at all, you were just so out of it I probably could have launched into a repeat of the old USO tour routine without you noticing. But you haven’t told me your name yet.”

“Tony. Stark. Not that there’s any way you didn’t know who I was before you came over.”

“You’re right, but my Ma would’ve scolded me something fierce if she caught me forgetting my manners like that.”

“Not that I mind the company, but I thought you were meant to still be confined to the sick-bay, under observation. What brings you here, at this time of the morning no less?” Tony asked.

“This was just the first chance I had to break free. There’s no reason for them to be keeping me under medical observation, I’m perfectly healthy. I think they just want me where they can keep an eye on me.” Steve said with a grimace.

“Yep, that sounds like SHIELD. Have they told you much about what’s happened since you went down? Hell, have they even told you what year it is?” Tony asked.

“Yeah.” Steve sighed. “They assigned a junior agent, I think his name’s Coulson, to keep me company, and answer any questions I have. Of course, he’s asked me more questions than he’s answered, wanting to hear all about Captain America’s adventures. Like it wasn’t just a week ago for me, not the 50 years that have passed me by.”

“Shit,” was the only answer Tony could come up with. What could he possibly say in response to that, that wouldn’t sound condescending or patronising. ‘I know how you feel’ was blatantly false, there wasn’t a person on the planet who had been through what Steve was right now.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be dropping all of this on your head, you didn’t ask to hear about my problems.” Steve apologised.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. If you want someone to talk at, I can do that. Just not sure that I’d be of any use to you with advice or anything.” As anyone who knew him would attest, Tony was far better at talking than he was at listening, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to try.

Steve sighed. “This all still doesn’t feel real to me, like it’s just some dream I’m going to wake up from at any moment. It doesn’t help that SHIELD seem determined to keep me cooped up in the infirmary, I’ve spent far too much time in my life confined to a sickbed when I was actually sick. I didn’t have much patience for it then, and I sure don’t now.”

“Why not tell SHIELD to stick it where the sun don’t shine?” Tony got a snorted laugh from Steve with that suggestion.

“I don’t want to go burning bridges that I don’t have to. I’ve got nothing going for me here, and the more I learn the clearer it is that I’m so far out of my depth it’s ridiculous.”

“I wouldn’t say you’ve got nothing. There are plenty of people around who knew you before who’d be willing to step up for you. I know you know Howard doesn’t put much stock in playing by other people’s rules, and I don’t know why but he’s got some influence with SHIELD. Maybe he can pull some strings for you if I ask him.” Tony offered.

That got him a genuine smile, and wow! Steve was gorgeous when he smiled, and Tony was in real trouble here.

“Thank you Tony, I really appreciate it.” Steve checked the watch Tony hadn't noticed he was wearing (because all of his attention had been focused on the tight short). “Its later than I realised, I shouldn't be keeping you up. Time for both is us to find our beds.”

“Yes. Bed. Right.” Tony stammered.

“Goodnight, Tony.” Steve said, as he stood and walked away.

Shortly after, Tony made his way back to his room, where he flopped face-down into his bed, without bothering to change or even remove his shoes, and slept for a solid 12 hours.

It didn’t take much arguing for Tony to convince Howard that SHIELD was doing Steve no favours by keeping him secluded away from the rest of the world. There were no guarantees made, but Tony had faith in his father’s ability to out-stubborn even the head of SHIELD.

Two days later, Howard came through for them. “I had to call in several favours with Director Fury for this, but if it helps you, Steve, it’s worth it. I’ve arranged transport back to New York for the both of you. Just, try not to get into too much trouble together, alright?”

“Sure thing, Dad.”

“Thank you for this, Howard.”

*

The less said about the 24 hours it took them to get back to New York, the better. Jarvis was waiting for them at the airport, and Tony could not have been happier to see him. The drive home was uneventful, and the second they were in the door of the mansion Tony grabbed Steve by the hand to drag him to the guest room across the hallway from his own bedroom.

“I asked Dad to get Jarvis to prepare this room for you, and I’m sure he’s gone overboard with finding you anything you might need, like clothes and stuff. I’d offer to show you around the place, but I’m dead on my feet, and you look the same. If you need me, I’m just in there,” Tony said, waving a hand at his bedroom door. Steve nodded and bid Tony a quiet “goodnight,” before entering his room.

Tony was woken the next morning by a knock on his door. “Whoever’s waking me up had better be bringing me coffee!” He shouted, and without really thinking about it, he dragged himself out of bed and shuffled his way over to open the door.

Steve was standing on the other side, unfortunately empty handed. “Sorry, Jarvis wanted me to get you up for breakfast, ‘preferably before such a time that lunch is the appropriate meal.’ He specifically told me to tell you that coffee's off limits until you've had something to eat.”

Tony could tell the very moment that everything went to hell by the sudden change in Steve’s expression and body language. His face had shifted into a blank mask and his stance was now at parade rest.

“Oh,” came the soft exclamation from Steve. In his only half-awake state Tony had made the mistake of leaving his bedroom door wide open, meaning Steve could look in and see all the Captain America posters on the walls, the replica shield, and the shelves filled with comics and books.

“Well, this is about as awkward as it gets. Any chance we could pretend like this never happened,” Tony asked hopelessly.

“It was one thing to hear about it from that SHIELD Agent, the one who wanted me to sign his trading cards, but seeing it all like this sure is something else.” Steve took a few steps into Tony’s bedroom before stopping.

“This is all just from when I was young. Like, fourteen years old young. After that I spent most of my time away from here, at college, and then when I was home for holidays and stuff it never seemed worth the effort of taking it down. I didn't organise to bring you home here as some kind of weird fan thing, it was genuinely an honest attempt to help, and I'm probably going to keep rambling like this until you give me some sort of reaction to work with here.”

“Tony. Just take a breath, okay. I’m not put off by this, and I don’t think you’re weird. It just took me by surprise a bit is all. I’ve never gotten used to the idea of people who’ve never met me knowing all about me.”

That was something Tony could definitely relate to, if not to the same extent. “I understand that. People hear the ‘Stark’ in my name and everything changes. It’s not quite the same as the legend of Captain America, but yeah. I get it.”

Tony watched as Steve walked over to the largest poster on the wall and stared at it for a long moment.

“You’re never allowed to speak to Jarvis ever again, by the way. The last thing I need is him dragging out the family photo albums of when I was younger,” Tony called out to him

“I'm sure you were very cute,” Steve said with a chuckle.

“Nope, not happening! I refuse.” Tony grabbed hold of Steve’s wrist and used it to tug Steve out of his bedroom, which Steve allowed. Tony wouldn’t have had much luck in moving Steve if he didn’t want to be moved. “C’mon, let’s go get me that coffee, and then I can give you a tour of the mansion, if you want?”

“That sounds like a plan. Lead on,” Steve said, gesturing for Tony to show the way.

The grand tour took several hours, given the size of the mansion. They paused halfway through for lunch, because Steve’s appetite was like nothing Tony had ever seen before; he wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own two eyes.

Tony had saved the best for last as he was showing Steve around, and he hoped that Steve would be suitably impressed. Tony’s workshop was one of the most important places in the world to him, and he didn’t let just anyone in. The awed look on Steve’s face makes Tony feel oddly proud in a way he hadn’t expected.

“This is amazing, Tony. It’s like something out of those science fiction stories me and Bucky used to read.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Tony said with a grin. “DUM-E, where are you? Come over here and say hello to Steve.”

DUM-E rolled his way over to them from his charging station and nodded his ‘head’ up and down in greeting. Steve’s jaw just about hit the floor.

“You built him? And he understands what we’re saying?” Steve asked.

“Yep and yep,” Tony replied. “When I was 19. I’m planning on building him a sibling at some point, but first I’m trying to develop a more advanced AI. Uh, that’s Artificial Intelligence.”

“Incredible. If I had any doubts about this whole ‘future’ thing being real, this would have blown them out of the water. Show me everything!” Steve demanded eagerly, and Tony was more than happy to oblige.

*

Tony was woken that night by muffled shouting coming from the room across the hallway. He laid in bed for a few minutes debating with himself whether or not he should check on Steve, or if it would be an unwelcome intrusion before deciding to take the risk for Steve’s sake. If the situation were reversed he would want someone to do the same for him.

He knocked on the door, not really expecting a response, and when he didn’t get one he hesitantly opened it enough to peek inside Steve’s bedroom. It was obvious that Steve had been thrashing around in his sleep, the sheets were tangled around him and he had thrown the pillows to the floor. Tony had spent enough time around members of the Howling Commandos to know better than to attempt to wake Steve by touching him or while standing too close.

Calling Steve’s name loudly didn’t have any effect, so Tony resorted to throwing a pillow at his face, which was crude but effective. Steve startled awake with a shout, breathing heavily.

“Hey Steve, it’s Tony. You’re okay, it was just a nightmare. You’re in Stark Mansion in New York, and you’re safe.”

Steve gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement, but didn’t speak.

“Is it okay if I sit here next to you?” Tony asked quietly. Steve nodded again, so Tony sat down on the bed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tony asked awkwardly. He was out of his depth here, with no clue what he was doing or how to help. Steve shook his head in answer. For lack of any better idea of how to help, Tony reached his arm around Steve in a side-hug, only to find himself with both arms full of super soldier when Steve leant into the embrace. It wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world, but Tony was determined to comfort Steve in whatever way he could.

“Do you want me to stay here with you tonight?” Tony asked eventually.

“I’ll be fine on my own. I don’t need anything.”

“I didn’t ask if you needed, I asked if you _wanted_. I’ve been told I make a very effective human teddy bear.”

That finally got a small smile out of Steve, which Tony counted as a win. “Okay,” came the soft-spoken agreement from Steve after a few minutes of thinking. Tony maneuvered his way out from under Steve and set to fixing the bedding. Soon enough they were under the covers with Steve spooning Tony.

“If you start snoring I will kick you in the shins.” Tony warned, but Steve was already asleep and stayed that way until morning.

Tony and Steve very easily fell into a pattern of spending time together over the next several months. Most of their time was spent downstairs in Tony’s workshop with Tony working on his AI and various projects for SI, while Steve focussed on working his way through the material provided by SHIELD to help him catch-up on 50 years of world events.

Outside of the workshop they also spent a great deal of time together, because Tony declared that catching up on 50 years worth of tv and movies was just as important as the info provided by SHIELD. Tony had never had much sense of leaving friends with personal space, but it didn’t seem to bother Steve so Tony made no effort to change his behaviour.

On occasion Howard would stop in to join them and see what they were up to. It always seemed to Tony like he found something amusing about their friendship, but whenever he asked he got no real response. All Howard would say was that he surprised, but pleased, to see them together like this.

Captain America’s return from the dead was not publically known, but news like that had its ways of spreading to those who knew him. Which of course meant they all wanted to come visit Steve in person. Tony could tell how conflicted Steve was about these visits. On on hand, these were his friends and of course he wanted to see them and hear about the lives they had lead; but, it wasn’t easy for him to be confronted so clearly with the evidence of how the world and everyone in it had moved on without him. Some of them had _grandkids_ who were the same age as he was.

Steve’s nightmares were always worse on the nights after he’d been visited by one or more of the Howling Commandos and their families. It took several bouts of nightmares for Tony to connect the dots and notice the pattern, but once he did Tony would not even bother getting into his own bed, automatically joining Steve in his. Steve never commented on it, but the look of relief each time was enough for Tony.

It was the morning after one of these nights that Steve changed everything. They were laying in bed cuddling as usual, with Steve curled up behind Tony, when Steve spoke softly. “There are days where none of this seems real, like it’s all just some dream, nightmare, that I’ll wake up from at any moment and everything will be back to the way it should be. Except for you. Even when it seems like I’ve got nothing left, that everyone has moved on without me and left me behind, I’ve got you.”

Tony rolled over to face Steve, who reached up to cup his cheek. “Steve…”

It was Steve who made the first move, bridging the small distance between them to bring their lips together, and Tony responded in kind. He made a petulant whining sound when Steve broke the kiss to speak.

“You’re like my good luck charm. They only found me in the ice when you were there, and I’ve seen the reports that say the only reason they got to me safely was because of you. When you’re with me, I feel like I can manage anything, if we’re together.”

“Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated.
> 
> I'll add a link to my tumblr here when authors are revealed.


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